A lithograph of a little black girl walking with security guards on her first day of school sparked this year’s approach to Northwestern’s celebration of Black History Month, according to Carretta Cooke, director of African American Student Affairs.

A reprint of the lithograph — a Norman Rockwell portrait of Ruby Bridges desegregating an all-white elementary school — is on the office’s Black History Month calendar to remind students and faculty of Bridges’ legacy, Cooke said.

This month division of student affairs is hosting several programs showcasing different perspectives on race in honor of the 50th anniversary of Supreme Court desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education.

“That lithograph is one of the most sought-after lithographs during this time period, so we were very, very lucky to get the permission to use that calendar,” Cooke said. “And if you look at the array of the events, it also speaks volumes to the legacy of that period, in terms of giving people access to things they didn’t previously have.”

With programming ranging from musical performances to lectures, Cooke said the celebration will showcase the education access blacks now have.

Haki Madhubuti, a professor at Chicago State University, addressed a crowd of 70 students in Annenberg Hall on Thursday about the need for educational reform in black communities.

Madhubuti and his wife, Education Prof. Carol Lee, started two Chicago charter schools that have “African centered” cirricula.

For Weinberg freshman Sara Ittelson, Madhubuti’s speech gave her a new way of looking at black history.

“He had lots of insight about black communities and how things are,” Ittelson said.

In separate events on Monday, journalists Felipe Luciano and Juan Williams will speak about muticulturalism. School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery will give a piano recital Feb. 17. A panel discussion focusing on the impact of Brown v. Board of Education happened last week.

Providing students with a new way of envisioning history is the main focus of the month’s programming, Cooke said. Although the office is sponsoring fewer programs this year than in previous years, she said she thinks the quality of programming is much stronger.

“(NU students) will walk away with something they can utilize in their own lives,” Cooke said. “I think it’s important just to come and enjoy it and get an appreciation of black community — not only to the black community at NU, but globally.”